Friday, April 18, 2014

The Resurrection and Your Problems

There is a new focus in many Christian circles today on the Gospel in our every day life. In a children's book that my son owns, the focus is that every story speaks the name of Jesus. Throughout the book, each story ends by reminding us of God's ultimate plan - his ultimate gift.
Some people might not understand what the gospel actually is. The Bible says it, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (I Corinthians 15:3-5) The passage goes on today say that many people saw him after He came back to life. Many of us grew up understanding the gospel in order to be saved. We believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, and we accepted Him as our Savior so that we could go to heaven someday. That is the main purpose of the gospel. He wants everyone to be saved and be in heaven someday. There is more to the gospel than just our salvation.The gospel can have a great impact on our problems as well. As addressed above, it cures our first problem - sin. It can cure any other problem we face as well. Many people are under the wrongful impression that those who go through trials are being punished for sin. God does punish our sin when we are believers, but trials are more often for our growth than our punishment. Because we do live in a sinful world, however; the affects of sin will always be upon us as long as we are on earth. We will get sick, we will have children with medical or other special needs, and we will ultimately die. All of this is because of sin.
Because of sin, we will all die unless Christ returns before we die. Death is a part of the Gospel. Jesus, God's Son, had to die. He was fully man and fully God, yet He obediently allowed Himself to be separated from God the Father. His death was the worst death- separation from God. He experienced this death, so that people could escape a similar separation from God in hell. Hell is a dark place full of fire and a death that never truly dies. The worst of this place is that there is an absence of God. Even though we live in a sinful world, God is still here in our midst. It is hard to imagine a place where God is absent. That is what death will be to those who do not accept that Christ died to take their place.
The third part of the gospel is life - the resurrection of Christ. This is the most exciting part of the gospel. This is the part where we go from death to everlasting life. Christ died for our sins, but He did not stay dead. His spirit did not just rise, His body came back to life, and He even showed himself to many people following His resurrection. If you do not believe that He rose again, then you have no hope. God is not dead. He is in heaven waiting for us. Without the resurrection, we have no hope of eternal life. God did what He said He would do, and He came back. He lives to make intercession for us with God.
So besides our problems being because we live in a sinful world, how does the gospel help us with our problems?

The gospel gives us hope. Someday, we and those we love who have trusted Christ will have perfect bodies. Our problems are not forever.

I love the song, "It is not death to die." It is so true for a Christian. Death for a Christian is still difficult just as it was hard for Christ and the people He loved when He died. His death was not eternal however. His resurrection is eternal, just like ours will be when we die knowing Christ.

We truly can see the gospel spread throughout the Bible. We can see God's hand moving through the trials of His people and even through those who did not know Him. Because we can see His hand in those days, it makes it easier for us to see His hand in our own lives. His sovereignty can give us hope that as the gospel is complete throughout scripture, it will be complete in our own lives as well - ending with the resurrection of our own bodies to someday be with Him.